The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-03-16

3uppsying All Sorts of Liquors I'm Any
Quantity by Resorting tn Drugs.

supplying All Sorts OF Liquors I'm Any
Quantity by Rcsorting to Drugs.
Just take little trip down to tho
cellar or factory" as il is called, OF
this bag house, says the New York
Tribune, describing some of the Sc
crets OF a Wholesale liquor store. Bar
rels, bottles, boxes, huge kettles, and
measures are scattered around. The
most interesting feature is little room
which is strongly suggestive of an
apothecary's shop. Shelves on the four
sides OF the room run to the ceiling and
are filled with bottles of every size.
They contain acids, drugs, and oils.
Some of them are known by the names
printed upon the bottles; others show
secret marks which have no meaning
save to the initiated. The odor in the
room is strong. pungent, and sicken-
ing. Those bottles tell story which
few people know, or care to know. In
them are the ingredients for making
almost any kind of wine or liquor.
There is no further use for the Juicy
grape. Art has stepped in and crowd
ed it out.
And who is the bald-headed man
with keen eye and steady hand who is
climbing among the bottles, taking a
little out of this and that one as he
goes? He is the professional mixer.
He is an adjunct of many large liquor
houses. He knows everything about
making wines and liquors, and conse-
quently gets all the stimulants he
wants from water. He believes
in temperance for himself, if
not for others. An order has
come in for brandy of certain grade,
and the mixer is at work on it. Spirits
of wine, which is alcohol with the odor
taken out, forms the base of the COM
pound. Enough of this to make the
amount of brandy desired is put into O
cask. 1t Is without flavor, and dark,
smoky fluid known as cognac oil sup
plies the deficiency. Every step in the
process is taken by rule, and the mixer
seems to pour out the ingredients care
lessly because of his familiarity with
the work. But it is exact every time.
The mixer does not make any mistakes.
The person who drinks the compound
does everything in that line.
After enough Of the cognac has been
used to give the desired flavor the color
is attended to. The pure white spirit
is treated to liberal dose of caramel
or burned sugar This gives the proper
color. There is only one thing lacking,
and that is to give the mixture or
brandy the age necessary to make it
palatable. Ibis is done with water and
pure strip, which takes away the fire
of the spirit and brings the brandy up
to the proper smoothness. The whole
compound is then thoroughly stirred
up and ready to stand the ordinary
tests. These are tasting, smelling, ex-
amining color, and observing the size
of the ANAL beads which float on the
liquid. In order to form bead which
will stay longer and appear better
than the natural bead, what is known
as bead oil is used. This brings
the brandy right up to high quality in
appearance, and a mixture is made
which will deceive nee only an occa-
sional drinker but an expert if the
work is well done.
Gin and rum are made in a similar
manner. They are guaranteed as pure,
and the mixer does his combining so
well that few would wager against the
guaranty The ingredients used in
some of the compounds are not spe-
cially injurious to health, the most
poisonous substance being alcohol. An
other process is the aging of whisky.
Whisky is taken from the still only a
few hours old and aged artificially by
heat. The same evaporation and an
initiation of the fusel oil and internal
fire, which it would take years to &C.
comphsh naturally, it is claimed cen be
secured in o few hours by proper de-
gree of continuous heat. The method
is secret, but the goods are on the
market and command ready sale. 1t
is pure whisky at least, which can be
said OF only a small part of the stuff
sold, and brings o good price.
The amount of spurious wines manu-
featured is astonishing. People who
drink the deep-colored claret in bar.
rooms little dream that they are put
ting a mixture of orris-root, water,
raspberry juice, and cochineal into their
stomachs. The claret flavor is there,
but the claret itself is absent. When
taking home bottle of genuine port"
to build up the constitution of an in
valid, it is not encouraging to know
that in all probability the wine is COM
posed of strong cider, gum kino, strip,
and tartaric acid. Most of the sherry
wine in the market is a combination of
cheap materials colored with alkenet
root. Among the articles used to give
the rich color of purity and enhance
the value of inferior wines are rosani-
line, elderberry, and logwood.